Cheddleton Flint Mill

The Cheddleton Flint Mill, 12 km north-east of Stoke-on-Trent, was one of many concerns that supplied materials to the The Potteries, Europe’s greatest concentration of ceramics manufacturers. There are two mills on the site, one a corn mill of uncertain date that was adapted to grind flints in the eighteenth century, the other a purpose-built flint mill, also of late eighteenth century date. Both are powered by the River Churnet, and the complex stands alongside the Caldon Canal, opened in 1777. Flints from other parts of England were delivered by canal boats, which also took ground flint powder to The Potteries. The complex also includes a miller’s house, and two kilns used for heating flints before they were ground, and another for drying flint powder.  The mills worked until 1963 and a trust for their preservation, now the Cheddleton Flint Mill Heritage Trust, was formed in 1967.